Where people allow it to be sold like a consumer product. It’s one of my favorite scenes because it shows futitliy of the act due to the fact that people allow it to become futile. It’s a great kind of a “naive battlecry” type of film that does a good job countering a lot of the ideas thrown around by authoritarian standpoints.
In my opinion it’s the only worthwhile scene in the entire film. Tout Va Bien is Godard’s official notification he’s about to go off the deep end.
Still, don’t forget that Gorin was the co-director of Tout Va Bien and according to the extras on the Criterion disk, critics suspect that he was largely responsible for the work rather than Godard, who had been sick or hospitalised for something during that time period.
It’s the equivalent of the car crash scene in “Weekend.” In either case, difficult to watch.
It’s the equivalent of the car crash scene in “Weekend.” In either case, incredible to watch.
Not quite incredible, but interesting.
Yeah, actually I would agree with that – I do think the traffic scene in Weekend is incredible, but this one is a lot harder to like since, whether it was more Godard or Gorin’s doing, it was a direct ripoff of the scene in Weekend. Which makes it kind of annoying, actually. Also, I really like sruetua’s comment – Godard as he became a major asshole.
I don’t know if a director can rip himself off. I’d rather call it an homage or a self-reflexive reference.
richard brody’s biography of godard is rather unambiguous in stating that gorin did nearly all of the actual directing of the film, as before filming started godard got (to use the technical term) run the fuck over by a truck, and just wasn’t able to be as involved as i think people credit him with being.
I haven’t read the book. What citation does Brody offer to support this claim?
Godard’s accident was covered in the European press but not in ht U.S. He was nearly killed. Anna Karina went to visit him in the hospital and siad she thought for sure that he was going to die. (She also mentioned that he had “a very beautiful body” — which was of course news to everyone.) He manged to pull himself together and continue on, but it was touch and go.
The scene in question is very Tati with a touch of Jerry Lewis.
Godard was much more involbed in making “Letter To Jane” — an essay film that grew out of his dissatisfaction with Fonda in “Tout Va Bien.”
Godard’s mother died in an automobile accident that he went on to recreate in great detail in “Contempt.”
So did his time in the hospital coincide with the production dates of “Tout va bien”? I just want to make sure we’re doing our homework if we want to make the claim that Godard didn’t really co-direct the film.
Sorry for repetition, but I like Nate’s comparison of this scene to the traffic jam pan in Weekend. I think Richard Brody makes this comparison too. Both awesome ideas for shots.
RaySquirrel
A metaphor for “the marketplace of ideas” perhaps? Where Communism is another product to be sold just like any other consumer product.